Financial crime investigation underway at Albany home

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10)– A number of police vehicles and unmarked cars lined Crestwood Court shortly after 9 a.m. Tuesday morning, descending upon the home of a resident for a financial crime investigation.

When asked whether this was normal for the neighborhood, resident Betty Bergan responded with, “Absolutely not. This is a quiet neighborhood.”

The heavy police presence included the Albany Police Mobile Command Center, and unmarked vehicles lining their street, while police canines barked in the background. 

Albany County District Attorney Lee Kindlon stated this is an ongoing social security fraud investigation. 

“We are executing a series of search warrants as part of a multi-agency investigation,” he explained. “The Albany County District Attorney, the Albany police, NY State Police, Social Security Office of Inspector General have been doing a financial fraud investigation for a couple of months. This is just the next step as part of that investigation.”

He said this is the first time there has been such a large presence at 6 Crestwood Court. 

“We have investigated this case for awhile,” he said. “We were able to talk to one individual today, he’s not in custody, but that conversation is ongoing.”

Neighbors said they used to see the older couple that had lived in the house out walking each day and then stopped seeing them. 

“I would be out on my daily walk and they would be, too, and we would pass by and greet each other, more or less,” Betty Bergan shared. 

That was nearly a decade ago. When they inquired where the couple went, the son told them they had moved to Germany. 

“And I thought, OK, because they are German,” said next door neighbor Kate Calabrese, “but then I thought about it more and was like, but they didn’t have any moving equipment with them. They were here one day, gone the next.”

“That’s exactly what I experienced,” added Bergan. “It was puzzling.”

“Right now, the reality is there’s a lot of stuff we don’t know. That’s why we do the investigation because There’s a lot of stuff to go through in that house,” said Kindlon. “This isn’t, unfortunately, like TV where we’re going to have an answer at the end of the hour, and I think this is going to go on if not just today, for the next couple of days as we go through everything in the house and keep working on the investigation.”